Rectifying A Father's Sins
by Melodie
Summary: A story I wrote about involving Days Of Our Lives - yet I've created some characters, though most of the charactes don't belong to me (obviously!)
1. Default Chapter

Kathryn Mandrake looked around the dean's office and sighed. She'd come to Salem to attend University while interning at one of the two rivaling corporations, Basic Black or Titan. That's what she'd told her friends back in L.A., but it was only half the story. She'd also come to Salem in order to find her sister, to see if she could unearth the answers to her past and figure out why she couldn't remember most of her life. The doctors she'd seen had assumed it was amnesia caused by some sort of trauma in her past, but she felt it was something more - something to do with her past that had caused her to repress any memory of her former life. And for some reason Salem felt like the place that held all the answer, which was strange since she'd only just heard of it recently on a tv report about an apparent baby switch that had caused a huge scandal because it concerned one of the biggest business men in the country, John Black, who had been thought to be the father of the child, but it had been prove to be false. The roller coaster hadn't stopped for the family because another man came forward claiming he was the baby's father and as before it had been proven that Glen Riber was of no relation to the little boy named JT. It seemed like something out of a soap opera but it was real - as real as you could get. The name had stuck in her mind and intrigued her so much that she'd found herself learning more and more about the place, and as the months went by she had gotten it in her head that she was going to move there. Her friends had brushed it off as just another whim on their sometimes cooky friend's part - but in Kathryn's mind she'd known that it wasn't. This was something she was going to have to do, no matter how much her friends warned her that she was better off not knowing about her past since she'd repressed it. It still baffled her as to why she could only remember the fact she had a sister named Alex who was a police officer, and yet she couldn't remember anything else from her childhood up until the point she'd entered university. Her high school career was a blur she had friends who had known her for a while but they could not help with the lack of knowledge she had because she'd never talked about her home life or even remotely mentioned her parents in passing - it had been like she was alone from the day they'd met her, and she knew that was how it was going to be until she found out who she truly was.  
  
"Ms. Mandrake, Dean Winters will see you now." the secretary said.  
  
"Thank you." Kathryn smiled politely at the woman and headed into the dean's office. "Dean Winters, your secretary sent me in, she said you were ready to see me."  
  
"Yes, yes take a sit my dear." Dean Winters said as he turned to look at the raven haired girl. She had an eerie resemblance to somebody he'd once known - somebody he didn't care to know again. "Well Ms. Mandrake are you ready to start you life here at Salem U?"  
  
"As ready as I'll ever be." she muttered, not knowing that her entire existence would upset the balance within the city of Salem and her presence would affected some many lives in unmeasurable ways. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Ah the freedom of university life....." Miriam Lockhart sighed as she and her friends walked the halls of Salem University on one of their first days there. "So many boys, so little time...." she said with a tiny smile, though inside she was dying. She couldn't quite explain why she was so upset over this thing with Kevin - it wasn't like she'd thought that they were going to be together forever, but it seemed like he wouldn't hurt her; wouldn't do the things that other guys would do, he'd been different. But what she had recently found out was very contrary to that. Sure she hadn't been involved with Kevin when he'd had sex with Jan Spears, but it had hurt enough to know that the guy who'd been so sweet to her, so loving for the past two months was now going to be a father with a girl she could barely stand.   
  
It was thanks to Jan's scheming that she hadn't been able to attend the Senior Prom and now Jan was pregnant with Kevin's child. Kevin had begged her to understand that he had to be there for the baby, had to make sure that it was okay, it was his responsibility - and then he'd dumped her saying it was for the best that she didn't want to be tied down to somebody who had a child. Those words had hurt her more than she could have though possible because they'd only been together for a while - but it hurt to know that the guy who proclaimed he wanted to be with you and only you, would leave her with the excuse of responsibility to his child. If he had truly wanted to be with only her, wouldn't he have accepted the fact he was going to be a father and then keep her in his life - but no that hadn't happened, and she'd ended up broken hearted and alone. The only way she could keep her friends of her back was to act like she normally would, but it was beginning to tire her out all the pretending she did. Her friends had their own problems and she wasn't going to add to them, even if they said it was okay.  
  
"I don't need to find one. I've got my man right here." Isabella Black said as she clung tightly to her boyfriend's arm.   
  
Shawn Brady groaned a little as she tightened her grip and saw her send a glare towards a girl who'd just smiled there way. She was starting to become clingy in every sense, and it wasn't that he didn't still care about her, it was just getting hard to contend with the mixture of emotions that he had built up inside of him. He'd known Belle since childhood and he'd never known her to be clingy towards anybody in her life - he actually remembered her complaining about how clingy Philip Kiriakis had become when he'd dated Chloe Lane. Yet she didn't seem to see that she was doing the very same thing, only in his mind it was getting worse than Philip had been. Sometimes he felt like just leaving everything and forget all the conflicts in his life. But it seemed that God chose to pile more on his family as each day went by.   
  
First JT had been diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome, then after all the troubles they'd gone through with JT's health, it had been found that he was not the child his mother had given birth to. The fear that the birth parents would come to take him away still scared him; ever since Glen Riber had shown up in Salem and claimed he was JT's biological father, though that hadn't been a founded claim and thankful JT was still with them. Shawn loved him more than life itself and to think that he'd been put through so much torture in his young life made Shawn sad, he knew what it was like to live in a family that was ripped apart time after time and he'd thought maybe that things would different for JT, but that wasn't the case. On top of knowing that JT was not his mother's biological son, they had also found out that the child his mother's best friend, Lexie Carver, was raising was in actual fact his mother's child.   
  
It had been hell since the revelation had been leaked to the tabloids and he could no longer stand the constant delving the reporters did into his family's life. It was bad enough that his parents were in the middle of trying to get custody of his little brother, Isaac, but to have it publicized all over the country was a bit much. The authorities still feared that Lexie would run with Isaac and had her under twenty four hour surveillance. Still his parents were going to rest easy until Isaac was a part of their family. And how was he supposed to act towards this kid he barely knew. He was his biological brother but he knew nothing about him, hadn't been there through his first two years and he knew it was going to be hard to accept Isaac into the family. He feared the affect it would have on JT and knew that in the end there could only be a semi-happy out come, their family would be complete but it would not happen without sacrifices.  
  
Shawn shook his head and sighed. He wished he could just leave university behind for now and be by himself, no problems, no distractions, just by himself. He looked around the hall ignoring the chatter of his friends and was startled when his eyes locked with a pair of piercing emerald eyes that shone with a sadness he knew well, he closed his eyes thinking he'd imagined it and found when he opened them that the eyes were still there and still staring at him. The raven haired girl looked around the hall confusion clouding her face as he saw her look at her watch and rushed off in the other direction.   
  
"Shawn you oka...." Belle's voice was interrupted when his cell phone rang and he smiled apologetically and answered it.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Shawn, it's Roman we need you to get down to the police station." Roman Brady said through the phone as he took in the couple sitting in the corner their eyes full of dread.  
  
"What's wrong Uncle Roman?"  
  
"It's happened." Roman said panic unknowingly creeping into his voice. "Lexie's running."  
  
"Oh no." he said his heart dropping to his stomach. Not this. His parents could go through this - hell nobody should go through this.   
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Yes, she's trying to leave the country with Isaac." Roman said his heart going out to his brother's family. They'd been through so much in the past few years and now all they needed was this. He vowed to himself that he would bring his little nephew home safely, no matter what actions had to be taken.  
  
"I'm on my way." Shawn said as he hung up. "Guys I have to go......Lexie's running."  
  
"Shawn....." he heard her voice call after him as he disappeared down the hall. 


	3. Chapter 3

Kathryn hated this. She was new and had no idea where she was going. All she knew was she had an urgent need to get away from the cluster of students that had been standing outside the dean's office. She had a feeling if she ever came face to face with them, that everything would change and it wouldn't be for the best.  
  
Since her jeep was in the shop she was stuck walking home and some how she'd ended up in a deserted ally way, definitely not a place she normally would walk alone in. She looked down at the flyer in her had that had been passed to her as she walked through Salem Place. Apparently there was a woman on the run with a young boy and the police were taking every precaution to make sure she was apprehended.  
  
"Poor family, I hope they get their child back." she muttered as she banged into a garbage can. "Shit..."  
  
She bent to rub her throbbing shin and heard a tiny voice crying. Turning around Kathryn found herself come face to face with a little boy.  
  
"Oh my...honey are you okay?" she said bending down beside him.  
  
The child stared at her with wide eyes as rustling began behind a dumpster and a large dog appeared. The boy let out a cry of fear and ran towards her, wrapping his arms around Kathryn as he shook.  
  
"It's okay, the doggie won't hurt you." Kathryn said smoothing the little boy's hair down. "We should get you to the police station so we can find your parents."  
  
She picked up the boy and headed out of the ally unaware that a woman was watching her walk away.  
  
Lexie watched in shock as the woman walked away with her child. "NO!!! STOP!!" she finally shouted but it was too late, the woman had already disappeared with Isaac.  
  
"I will not let Bo & Hope take my child away!! It will not happen!" Lexie vowed as she left the ally and headed back to her house. Surely Rolf would know what to do.  
  
"Bo I can't lose my son, I just can't. I already missed so much of his life...I can't miss anymore." Hope Brady cried as her husband held her tight. She couldn't her child be taken away, she had to go out there and do something - to make things right for not being there from the start. A baby switch had deprived of her of the first two years of his life but she would not let anything stop her from experience the rest of her life with Isaac. Even if it did hurt one of the people she'd considered to be her best friend for so many years - Lexie had been a part of this switch from the start, she was sure of it, and by doing that she had forgone any type of friendship she and Hope had ever shared. Hope would fight til the end to get her son back - if only she could go out there and look for him.  
"Mom, dad are you okay?" Shawn said as he raced into the police station.  
  
"Honey, I'm so glad to see you." Hope said as she hugged her eldest son.  
  
"Are you okay guys?" Shawn said looking at the two people he felt were the strongest in the world. How so many bad things could happen to two people who gave so much was hard for him to process, all he knew was he had to be there for them now more than ever.  
  
"Honey, it's just so....." Hope started as a sob started to form in her throat. She had to be strong, she couldn't let this get to her - she would get her son, she just had to!  
  
"Mom....." Shawn said tears forming in his eyes as he took in his mother's attempt to stay strong for everybody. She had been doing it for so long that it was like second nature and he hated to see her hide the hurt she felt. He knew what that was like - he was like that and he knew that holding in the hurt and the torment only caused more pain in the end, yet he still did it, as did his mother. He wished he could just go out there and find Isaac - take him away from Lexie so that his mother would be complete again. Yet he also knew how Lexie felt, she was about to lose her child, the baby she'd raised from birth. It was how he'd felt when there had been a possibility that they would lose JT but thankfully that hadn't happened. "It's going to be okay. They'll find Isaac and bring him home soon." he said hugging his mother and fought back the tears that were threatening to fall as he felt his mother begin to shake and her tears soaked his shirt. They just had to find Isaac, or else he wasn't sure his mother would be able to handle it.  
  
"Bo has there been any word?" John Black questioned as he stepped out of the office he'd been using as a home base for his attempts to find Isaac.  
  
"No, they just keep getting calls that Lexie's been seen in Salem Place, so Roman sent some guys over there to scour the place. How could this happen? I mean the baby switch.....Isaac being Hope's real child."  
  
"One word explains it all." John said anger flashing in his eyes. "Dimera."  
  
Bo nodded his head and sighed. Stefeno Dimera was the one person who would never give up hurting the people of Salem. He was in many ways like Satan himself, the threat he posed to those around him was unbearable sometimes and the actions he took to obtain the things he wanted were almost like hell. No Bo wouldn't let his family be afraid of this man for the rest of their lives. He had to get his wife's son back and had to make sure his family was safe, he would do anything in order to achieve that.  
  
"Bo we heard something.....Lexie's been seen heading out of town." Roman yelled out as he raced into the room and proceeded to dispatch all available officers to follow Lexie and block all roads out of Salem. "Don't worry little brother, we'll find her."  
  
Bo smiled at how much his brother and even Abe was trying to find Lexie. He knew that having friends like Abe was rare. Giving up custody to the child he'd raised with Lexie since birth had to have been the hardest thing that he'd ever had to do. But Abe had done it without a second thought, saying that Isaac belonged with his real mother. How it hurt Bo to know that his friend was going through this hell, and all he could think about was making things right for his friends.  
  
"I'm going to go see how Hope's holding up." Bo said as he left the office and headed to the desk his wife and son were sitting at. "Shawn why don't you get your mom something to drink."  
  
"Sure dad." Shawn said noting the distant look in his mother's eyes. She wouldn't be complete until Isaac was safe in her arms and everybody knew that. Shawn watched as his mother and father began to talk about any leads that had recently been called in, he shook his head and headed towards the vending machine to get his mother a bottle of water. Hopefully this would all be cleared up soon and his parents would be able to bring his other little brother home. JT was safe with his Great Grandmother and now all they needed to truly complete their family was Isaac. "Things will work out, I just know it. They just have to."  
  
Shawn walked down the corridor and stopped at the vending machine. 'Damn thing's out of order.....' He thought and turned to go back. As soon as he did he came face to face with the woman from the school earlier today and there in her arms was Isaac laughing at something.  
  
"Kat...." he heard Isaac say as he stood in disbelief.  
  
"Hopefully we'll find your parents this way sweetie." the girl smiled as she walked right past Shawn.  
  
"Isaac...." he muttered unable to say anything else.  
  
"That was the guy from school." Kathryn thought out loud as she walked towards the main office of the police station. "What's he doing here?"  
  
She shook her head and smiled at the tiny boy in her arms. He was laughing contentedly as she turned the corner to find somebody who could help her.  
  
"Bo, we need to be out there. I need to be out there looking for my son. He's got to be scared. I can't imagine what's going through his mind. I have to go out there and fi...." Hope stopped in mid-sentence as she turned her gaze towards the woman standing in the door way. She was holding Isaac! She was holding her son. "Isaac....." Hope said as she jumped from the chair and raced towards the woman. "Oh my god sweetie. Are you okay?"  
  
The woman holding him just stared at her questioningly and looked to Roman. "Ah, I found this little boy in an ally down by Salem Place......I figured the best place to bring him was here."  
  
"Thank you." a voice in back of her said as she handing the boy to his mother, or who she assumed to be his mother.  
  
She turned and found the guy from the university standing there.  
  
"It's nothing, any other person would've done the same." she said and looked around the office, uncomfortable all of a sudden because the entire office was staring at her.  
  
"Did you see anybody with him? This woman did you see her?" Roman said holding up the flyer that had been made with Lexie and Isaac's picture on it.  
  
"No, I didn't see anybody around. Why?" she said and took the paper he handed her. "You mean that this little boy that was abducted was Isaac.....oh my god."  
  
"You just stopped that woman from kidnaping my son." Hope said the tears falling freely from her eyes. "Thank you so much, you'll never know how much this means to me."  
  
"You're welcome." she said looking down shyly as she turned to leave. "I have to go. I.....good bye." with that she stepped around Shawn and headed out the door.  
  
"But the reward...." Bo said.  
  
"Keep it, I don't need a reward, seeing you with your son is reward enough." Kathryn called out as she left the police station not sure if they needed her for questioning but knowing that she couldn't' stay around there, she couldn't stay around the preying eyes. The eyes that had haunted her for so long. Why had those eyes appeared out of no where? Were they the eyes of the man who could tell her of her past, or were they the eyes of the person who could destroy her? So many questions and so little answers. All she knew was the man who stood off to the side, staring at her intently had scared her and she wasn't sure why. He was the man she'd sometimes see in her dreams. But she'd always thought he was just a figment of her imagination but now here he was in real life - what did it mean? 


End file.
